March 201827

Tuesday

7:30 PM

‘Polling in a Brave New World’

The Data Analytics program welcomes Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute, presenting “Polling in a Brave New World.” The 2016 election defied the experts, particularly those who conducted and relied on public opinion polling to understand the dynamics of the campaign.

The final analysis suggests that the polling itself was not off by as much as critics make it out to be. However, unrealistic expectations of polling’s precision led to an erroneous narrative that revealed significant flaws nonetheless. Polling practitioners today are faced with the twin challenges of improving their methodology in a quickly changing cultural and technological environment as well as resetting public perceptions of what is ultimately an inexact science.

The presentation will address both challenges and opportunities for practitioners and consumers of polling data that the 2016 election exposed, not only regarding political polls but for the myriad economic and sociological studies that rely on survey research.